Gunmen with ``bags of guns and bullets'' stormed into a Christian
church in Pakistan and sprayed the congregation with gunfire, killing
the minister and 15 others, police and survivors said.

The attack yesterday - the bloodiest in memory against the country's
small Christian community - took place during a Protestant service
held at St Dominic's Roman Catholic Church in the centre of
Behawalpur, a city in Pakistan's southern Punjab province.

It was unclear whether the attack was related to recent unrest over
US-led airstrikes on Afghanistan.

During the church shooting, survivors said worshippers tried to flee
or hide under pews to escape an indiscriminate hail of automatic
weapons fire that left the gray stone building pocked with bullet
holes.

``Some of them lay down. Some begged for mercy. They didn't listen,''
said Ali Shah, a man in his early 20s who was in the front pew when
the four masked gunmen burst in. He was one of five people being
treated for bullet wounds at the city hospital Sunday afternoon.

The Rev Rocus Patras, parish priest at St Dominic's, said that at the
time of the shooting, a Protestant congregation that lacks its own
building was worshipping at the Catholic church as it has for 30
years.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but intelligence
officials said members of a banned Islamic group were under suspicion.
US attacks on neighbouring Afghanistan have enraged many Pakistani
Muslims.

Authorities in Pakistan's four provinces ordered increased security at
Christian churches. In Islamabad, where police commandos with
automatic weapons guarded church gates yesterday afternoon, President
General Pervez Musharraf condemned the loss of ``16 innocent and
precious lives.''

``The method used and the inhuman tactics employed clearly indicate
involvement of trained terrorists of organizations bent on creating

Dr Umar Farooq, an emergency-room physician at the Civil Hospital in
Behawalpur, said four of the dead were children under 12, four were
women and eight were men. Police said one of the dead was Father
Emmanuel, the minister conducting the morning services. They did not
know his last name.

Patras, the Catholic priest, was in his rectory preparing for his own
service two hours later when he heard gunfire and went outside.

``I took these children, these little children, and ran. We jumped
over the wall. It was like bombs were going off,'' he said. ``After
that, I went back to the church and saw crying and blood and people
dying.''

He added: ``They had whole bags of weapons and bullets.''

Behawalpur Police Chief Haris Ikram said one of the dead was a Muslim
police officer named Mohammad Salim, who witnesses said was guarding
the church gate when he was shot.

Police said at least 100 people were in the church when the attackers
arrived on motorcycles. They opened fire for nearly five minutes and
fled as quickly as they came.

Shamoon Masih, 34, who was shot in the leg and the arm, said most of
those who died belonged to two families. He said the gunmen didn't
select particular victims but merely fired into clusters of people.

``They had no mercy for the children. They had no mercy for the women.
They could see that small children were being hit by bullets, but they
kept firing,'' said Masih, who carried several children out of the
church after the attack before passing out from his wounds.

Dr Altaf Malik, medical superintendent at the hospital, said that
after the shootings, distraught family members angered that loved ones
could not be saved screamed at doctors and destroyed some medical
equipment. ``We remained calm,'' the doctor said. ``We knew they were
grieving.''

In the Vatican, Pope John Paul II called the killings an ``evil act''
and a ``tragic act of intolerance'' and offered prayers to the
victims' families.

The pope ``has learned with the deepest sadness about the terrible
violence,'' read a condolence telegram sent by the Vatican's secretary
of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano. It said the pontiff ``expresses his
prayerful closeness to all affected by this evil act.''

In Britain, Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, spiritual leader of
the Church of England, condemned the killings and said, ``Christian
minorities in many parts of the world sometimes feel beleaguered and
under pressure, but I call upon everyone to recognise that this is not
a conflict between Christianity and Islam.''

There have been religious tensions between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims
in the area, but this was the first such attack on Christians in
recent memory, authorities said.

Also yesterday, a bomb ripped through a passenger bus in the
southwestern city of Quetta, killing at least three people and
wounding 25 others, police said.

The bomb, which was apparently placed under a seat, exploded as the
bus moved through a market area in a subdivision where military
personnel live. Police said several of the wounded were soldiers, but
they gave no further details.

In recent months, scores of people have been killed and injured in a
series of bomb explosions in Pakistan. There were also several
rocket-propelled grenade attacks on the military installations in
Quetta.

--
================================================== ==============
"The march of resistance will continue until the Islamic flag is
raised, not only on the minarets of Jerusalem, but over the
whole universe" - Hamas, http://tinyurl.com/3ftts

Usenet is not quite a billboard for "MY favourite news which I would
like to force everyone to see, regardless of whether it is on topic in
all those groups or not". You and some limited number of likewise
misinformed people make the soc.culture* groups quite unusable by
producing a flood of off-topic spam. Stop spamming please. Thank you
in advance.

F'up changed.

michaelaspecka

3
28th April 02:35

arklyte

External User

Posts: 1

Muslims Slaughter Pakistani Christians ..

This article is on-topic. The terrorist acts were commited
against christians. My posts were sent to newsgroups
of countries with significant christian populations.It is a
heads-up to them about the possibility of terror attacks.

Fully on-topic, and absolutely not spam.

f/up reset
--
================================================== ==============
"The march of resistance will continue until the Islamic flag is
raised, not only on the minarets of Jerusalem, but over the
whole universe" - Hamas, http://tinyurl.com/3ftts

arklyte

4
28th April 02:36

michaelaspecka

External User

Posts: 1

Muslims Slaughter Pakistani Christians ..

"Muslim slaughther Pakistani Christians" is not on-topic
in soc.culture.german, for example. You do ask questons,
you do not start a discussion, you just post off-topic spam
into unrelated newsgroups, even intodifferent hierarchies. Stop
spamming, please. At least you could specify one NG where
you want to discuss your ideas. Stop spaming please. Thank
you in advance.

F'up changed.

michaelaspecka

5
29th April 09:51

ahn fyuh wi dizayah

External User

Posts: 1

Muslims Slaughter Pakistani Christians ..

Only 16? That's not very effective.

ahn fyuh wi dizayah

6
29th April 19:57

ddb

External User

Posts: 1

Muslims Slaughter Pakistani Christians ..

That's the good thing about fighting islamist, their aim ****s. Why do you
think they use suicide bombers?

ddb

7
1st May 06:18

arklyte

External User

Posts: 1

Muslims Slaughter Pakistani Christians ..

http://www.theage.com.au/breaking/2001/10/29/FFXHZ244DTC.html

Pakistani Christians Slaughtered

The Age

10/29/01

Gunmen with ``bags of guns and bullets'' stormed into a Christian
church in Pakistan and sprayed the congregation with gunfire, killing
the minister and 15 others, police and survivors said.

The attack yesterday - the bloodiest in memory against the country's
small Christian community - took place during a Protestant service
held at St Dominic's Roman Catholic Church in the centre of
Behawalpur, a city in Pakistan's southern Punjab province.

It was unclear whether the attack was related to recent unrest over
US-led airstrikes on Afghanistan.

During the church shooting, survivors said worshippers tried to flee
or hide under pews to escape an indiscriminate hail of automatic
weapons fire that left the gray stone building pocked with bullet
holes.

``Some of them lay down. Some begged for mercy. They didn't listen,''
said Ali Shah, a man in his early 20s who was in the front pew when
the four masked gunmen burst in. He was one of five people being
treated for bullet wounds at the city hospital Sunday afternoon.

The Rev Rocus Patras, parish priest at St Dominic's, said that at the
time of the shooting, a Protestant congregation that lacks its own
building was worshipping at the Catholic church as it has for 30
years.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but intelligence
officials said members of a banned Islamic group were under suspicion.
US attacks on neighbouring Afghanistan have enraged many Pakistani
Muslims.

Authorities in Pakistan's four provinces ordered increased security at
Christian churches. In Islamabad, where police commandos with
automatic weapons guarded church gates yesterday afternoon, President
General Pervez Musharraf condemned the loss of ``16 innocent and
precious lives.''

``The method used and the inhuman tactics employed clearly indicate
involvement of trained terrorists of organizations bent on creating

Dr Umar Farooq, an emergency-room physician at the Civil Hospital in
Behawalpur, said four of the dead were children under 12, four were
women and eight were men. Police said one of the dead was Father
Emmanuel, the minister conducting the morning services. They did not
know his last name.

Patras, the Catholic priest, was in his rectory preparing for his own
service two hours later when he heard gunfire and went outside.

``I took these children, these little children, and ran. We jumped
over the wall. It was like bombs were going off,'' he said. ``After
that, I went back to the church and saw crying and blood and people
dying.''

He added: ``They had whole bags of weapons and bullets.''

Behawalpur Police Chief Haris Ikram said one of the dead was a Muslim
police officer named Mohammad Salim, who witnesses said was guarding
the church gate when he was shot.

Police said at least 100 people were in the church when the attackers
arrived on motorcycles. They opened fire for nearly five minutes and
fled as quickly as they came.

Shamoon Masih, 34, who was shot in the leg and the arm, said most of
those who died belonged to two families. He said the gunmen didn't
select particular victims but merely fired into clusters of people.

``They had no mercy for the children. They had no mercy for the women.
They could see that small children were being hit by bullets, but they
kept firing,'' said Masih, who carried several children out of the
church after the attack before passing out from his wounds.

Dr Altaf Malik, medical superintendent at the hospital, said that
after the shootings, distraught family members angered that loved ones
could not be saved screamed at doctors and destroyed some medical
equipment. ``We remained calm,'' the doctor said. ``We knew they were
grieving.''

In the Vatican, Pope John Paul II called the killings an ``evil act''
and a ``tragic act of intolerance'' and offered prayers to the
victims' families.

The pope ``has learned with the deepest sadness about the terrible
violence,'' read a condolence telegram sent by the Vatican's secretary
of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano. It said the pontiff ``expresses his
prayerful closeness to all affected by this evil act.''

In Britain, Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey, spiritual leader of
the Church of England, condemned the killings and said, ``Christian
minorities in many parts of the world sometimes feel beleaguered and
under pressure, but I call upon everyone to recognise that this is not
a conflict between Christianity and Islam.''

There have been religious tensions between Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims
in the area, but this was the first such attack on Christians in
recent memory, authorities said.

Also yesterday, a bomb ripped through a passenger bus in the
southwestern city of Quetta, killing at least three people and
wounding 25 others, police said.

The bomb, which was apparently placed under a seat, exploded as the
bus moved through a market area in a subdivision where military
personnel live. Police said several of the wounded were soldiers, but
they gave no further details.

In recent months, scores of people have been killed and injured in a
series of bomb explosions in Pakistan. There were also several
rocket-propelled grenade attacks on the military installations in
Quetta.

--
================================================== ==============
"The march of resistance will continue until the Islamic flag is
raised, not only on the minarets of Jerusalem, but over the
whole universe" - Hamas, http://tinyurl.com/3ftts

arklyte

8
1st May 06:18

arklyte

External User

Posts: 1

Muslims Slaughter Pakistani Christians ..

This article is on-topic. The terrorist acts were commited
against christians. My posts were sent to newsgroups
of countries with significant christian populations.It is a
heads-up to them about the possibility of terror attacks.

Fully on-topic, and absolutely not spam.

f/up reset
--
================================================== ==============
"The march of resistance will continue until the Islamic flag is
raised, not only on the minarets of Jerusalem, but over the
whole universe" - Hamas, http://tinyurl.com/3ftts